[Reprinted from The Richmond Police Station Newsletter of September 23, 2011. To be added to the station’s mailing list, email sfpd.richmond.station@sfgov.org.]
CAPTAIN KETIH SANFORD’S MESSAGE
Our Police Community Relations Forum meeting held on September 20th at the Richmond Police Station Community room and was well attended as the major topic of discussion focused on events in the Golden Gate Park. I was impressed with representatives from Rec & Park, those responses to questions by the community had been informative. Outside Lands representatives were also in attendance and they were interactive with the group. We have the up coming Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert this coming weekend from September 29 through October 2. Representatives from the promoters were present at the past PCRF meeting and we hope to see the community concerns address.
Park Presidio Neighborhood Association held their annual BBQ this past weekend where numerous attendees were treated to food, family and kids entertainment. The SFFD sent a fire engine and SFPD had the Mounted Horse Unit as well as the Richmond Station Solo Motorcycle Officer. We look forward to next year’s celebration.
Geary Blvd. Merchant Association President David Heller and his wife, Shiomit celebrated their 25th year in business, The Beauty Network. It was another wonderful event and it is great having David and his wife being so active in our neighborhood.
PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT
Phone Company Employee Impersonation in the Portola
On 09/09/11 at 12:20 hrs, on the 800 block of Brussels, a Hispanic male (34-40 years, 5’8”, 150lbs) wearing an AT&T work shirt and tool belt gained entry to a residence by stating that he had a repair work order. The resident allowed entry but followed the subject throughout the house. The subject inspected wiring, cutting some of them and left the residence without repairing them. The subject stated that he had to return to his office to send a signal. The resident contacted AT&T and discovered that no such work order existed. The resident made the police report.
It is reasonable to contact companies that send representatives to conduct inspections or work orders at your home or business when you have not been notified of such actions to see if indeed it is a valid representative/company.
Also our officers have in the past three weeks arrested numerous parolees and probationary subjects who have been in possession of stolen property or have broken into properties. Home and business owners should make certain that their windows and doors are secured as well as alarms activated. Our Project SAFE can make home and business inspections for you and this assessment will help in protecting your family/home from intruders.
NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS
On 09/20 at 6am, officers responded to the area of 23rd & Anza on a call of an auto burglary in progress. The caller provided a description of the suspect and officers detained her on the 500 block of 23rd Ave. The caller stated that a car alarm woke him up and he looked out his window. He observed the suspect inside a vehicle, with the passenger door open and the alarm sounding. The suspect then exited the vehicle and walked over to the bed of the caller’s pick-up truck and searched the bed of his truck. The suspect had in her possession items that were taken from the vehicle and were identified by the owner of the car. The 55 year old female was charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and a probation violation.
On 09/18 at 7:30am, a victim was walking to his vehicle which was parked in a secured apartment building garage on the 800 block of LaPlaya. He observed the suspect walking away from the area of his vehicle with items clutched to the front of his chest. He then observed the suspect get into a gray vehicle that was parked in a stall nearby. The victim then checked his car and noticed several items missing. It was determined later in the day that the vehicle the suspect had fled in had been stolen from another tenant in the same apartment building. Officers were able to retrieve video of the suspect in the building which will assist in identification. Officers over the next couple of days continued to investigate and discovered that the stolen vehicle had been in the area of 9th St & Mission on the evening of 09/20/11. Plainclothes officers went to the area of 9th & Mission on 09/21/11 and located the stolen vehicle. The suspect returned to the vehicle and drove away. A patrol unit attempted to stop the suspect who fled, but the got stuck in traffic on 3rd Street . The suspect fled the vehicle on foot but was detained by officers a short distance away. Officer located property from several other auto and residential burglaries in the vehicle. The 37 year old male who was on parole was charged with stolen auto, possession of stolen property, narcotic violations, falsifying a driver’s license and numerous other charges.
On 09/22 at 2:15pm, the victim was sitting at the bus stop on 25th Ave and California. The victim was “twittering” on her phone and had the ear buds in her ear. The suspect walked up and sat next to her and after about two minutes the suspect grabbed the victims phone and ran north on 25th Ave. Numerous units responded to the area and the suspect was located at 28th Ave and California St. The victim’s phone was found in his possession. The 15 year old male was charged with robbery.
On 09/22 at 2:20am, officers were patrolling the area of Golden Gate and Temescal when they observed the suspect riding a bike, while pushing another on Golden Gate Ave. They spoke with the suspect and ran a warrant check which came back negative. The suspect was sent on his way. The officers then drove to the direction the suspect had just come from and found an open garage door on the 2800 block of Turk St. Knowing that there had been a theft of a bicycle from a garage just two blocks away earlier in the week, the officers went back and located the suspect and detained him. An officer responded to the home on Turk and was able to contact the tenants. They went to the garage and saw that their bikes were missing. The tenants described their bikes which were the two the suspect had in his possession. The 54 year old male was charged with burglary, possession of stolen property, a parole warrant, and violation of his parole.
On 09/23 at 12:08am, officers observed a vehicle driving the wrong way on Cornwall St. The vehicle then took a turn south on 6th Ave at a high rate of speed. Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle on the 200 block of 6th Ave. The driver opened the door of his car and told the officers that he panicked when he saw the patrol car. As the officer was standing at the door, he could detect a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. When asked if he had marijuana in the car, the driver said “Yeah, about a pound or so.” Officers located several large baggies of suspected marijuana and other narcotics in the vehicle, along with a digital scale and cash. The 20 year old male was charged with possession of narcotics for sale.
On 09/23 at 1:45am, officers responded to a call of a dispute in the area of 5th Ave and Geary Bl. Officers located several victims, some who had been spat upon by the suspect and another victim who had been hit several times with a skateboard. Officers located and detained the suspect on 5th Ave and Anza St. The victims told the officers that they had been standing outside of nearby bar, and one of the victims was approached by the suspect who tried to strike up a conversation with this victim. The victim finally told the suspect to leave her alone, and she and her friend went back inside the bar. The suspect followed the victim back inside continued to stare at her and get close to her. Again the victim told the suspect to leave her alone and she went back outside. The suspect came outside told her she was rude and spat in her face. The suspect then took his skateboard and struck the second victim numerous times in the back. The suspect, a 25 year old male was charged with aggravated assault and battery.
NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS
On 09/16 at 10:22pm, officer responded to an alarm call of a residence on the 3600 block of Jackson St. When they arrived they saw that a side door leading into the basement of the residence was open. The officers made their way to the first floor of the home and saw that the door leading into the residence had been forced open. A caretaker for the home arrived and told the officers that the owner of the home was out of town, so loss was not determined.
Between 09/16, 9:30pm and 09/17, 1am on the 3100 block of Turk St, a suspect gained entry into a garage and took a bike. There were no signs of forced entry.
Between 09/17, 11:30pm and 09/18, 2:30pm on the 2900 block of Pine St, a suspect gained entry into a garage and took a bike and a set of golf clubs. There were no signs of forced entry.
Between 09/19, 12pm and 09/20, 10am on the 200 block of 21st Ave, a suspect gained entry into a garage and took a cell phone from a car parked inside. There were no signs of forced entry.
On 09/20 at 2:45pm, on the 400 block of 22nd Ave, the elderly victim was home when she heard the sound of glass breaking at her front door. As she approached the door she saw two males standing just outside and saw that a pane of glass on the door was broken. She yelled at them and they fled to a small white vehicle.
On 09/21 at 2:20pm, the victim got onto a MUNI bus at 9th Ave and Geary after affixing his bike to the rack at the front of the bus. When the bus stopped at Geary and Masonic the driver made an announcement that a bike had just been stolen from the rack. The victim determined that it was his and was not able to find the suspect or his bike.
On 09/22 at 1:56pm, officers responded to a call of a burglary on the 600 block of 38th Ave. The caller was reporting that her neighbor’s front door had been kicked in. While the officers were on scene, the victim came home and reported that jewelry was in fact taken from his house. The suspects attempted to get in by breaking the glass on the front door, but because of deadbolt locks were unable, and finally kicked the door in.
On 09/23 at 9:45am officer responded to a call of a woman screaming for help in the area of Sacramento and Divisadero Sts. Officers located the victim and she told them that she had walking her dog on Sacramento St near Divisadero. She had just hung up her cell phone and put it into the back pocket of her pants. She suddenly felt a bump from behind and when she turned she saw the suspect with her phone in his hand. The suspect then fled west on Sacramento St . The victim gave chase all the while yelling for help. The suspect then went south on Broderick with the victim in pursuit and she observed the suspect place her phone in the middle of the street and continue to flee. The victim recovered her phone. The suspect was described as a male 25-30 years of age, wearing a black jacket and dark pants.
I’ve had three thugs dressed as PG&E workers come to the house saying they need to check the water flow because they are working on the pipes down the street.
The scheme was, one would stay with you at the kitchen sink running the water, the second thug rifles through your house and the third waits outside watching to see the coast is clear.
Watch out people, don’t ANYONE into your house until you’ve verified with their company to make sure they are legit, INCLUDING a police officer. And be sure to let the police know immediately giving them the thugs description etc.
These thugs gave themselves away instantly by their smudged and dirty PG&E jacket, the worn out dress shoes, their guilty, nervous demeanor.
On the grab and run of handheld devices, you’d think people would know better by now.
*** The suspect was described as a male 25-30 years of age, wearing a black jacket and dark pants. ***
Oooh, that’s helpful.
Yes, they are endangering people by not giving the full description of the criminals, especially the nationality. For instance, if that same crook came to your house, you’d never know it by their lacking description and you could possibly get robbed or worse. But, if their nationality was given along with clothing, it would raise a flag with you. It has nothing to do with being racial and “profiling” as the politically stupidized would immediately like to label you.
Yes, the world is pc run amok.
I wonder what the Outside Lands representatives had to say. We haven’t heard much about the meeting where people were supposed to show up and complain about it. Did they answer the complaints about the event being too loud?
It was an interesting meeting. Questions and complaints were met with some pat answers and the Outside Lands rep basically shining folks on. They will not consider changing the hours claiming certain groups “must have lights and darkness to perform” The Police staff for the most part seemed to consider the event ok since there were no major arrests. It was clear Park and Rec did not notice well for the meeting and the Police forum was not really the proper venue to try and address all the concerns expressed. By the end of the meeting suggestions were offered it remains to be seen if they are followed up on.. Among the requests: city wide hearing to address issues, requests for publishing full financials ,continuing dialog with the outside lands folks and Park and Rec, The officers and staff at the station did their job and kept everyone safe. That was the major point of agreement!
I see. So, the major complaint of the issue of noise late at night and the assertions by some people that the noise level was unhealthy and/or above the legal decibel level…were those addressed at all by the OL people? I think most people agreed that the cops did a good job overall, but referring to the long thread a while back, many neighbors were very concerned about the noise level.
Did not seem to me the OL directly answered any of the noise issues other than to:remind folks the improvements came from neighborhood suggestion;the “weather” controlled the noise etc.There is plenty of electronic monitoring equipment that can give real time data on sound levels,no mention of implementing any of it . The contract is up for extension and the hearing at the board of supes is certain to be a lively and dare I say it- noisy.
The police aren’t holding back information from the public regarding descriptions of the suspects. As you can see on the first public safety alert, the victim was able to give a good description of the suspect. Citizens who are slightly older or have their vision/memory impaired might not be able to give a good detailed description to the police.
HAPPY anniversary to the Beauty Network! How nice that Capt. Sanford is now including neighborhood announcements like this in the Police Blotter! I hoping this means we can now contribute info about other business’s notable anniveraries, Richmond residents’ 100th birthdays, etc. and have them noted?
We are Borg…. I don’t understand why people always need to be in touch with the collective everywhere they go. No wonder they lose their phones. Obviously this will lead to communication implants very soon so nobody can steal stuff, but I’m not too keen on that concept. Hopefully there’ll be an opt-out.